Exhaustion
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: Tony's duty as Iron Man has started to control his sleeping more than he himself does. As tired as ever, Tony's glad that he at least has Pepper by his side, to pull him back up. *Pepperony One-shot*


**Well, i was tired, and and very tired today..so i wrote this dedicating it for my sleepiness. This is just a one shot, and originally there was supposed to be more, but i didn't want to add to my chapter story list. Just onshots at the moment. I really am so tired i am cross eyes, misspelling thigs everywhere. I just need to go to bed, which i will be after this. **

**This is set before Howard returned, so Tony still lives with the Rhodes. And there could be a gene, i just didn't mention him. Imagination people. **

**Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, even if i wished upon it.**

Long days always ends in long nights, and that was the exact opposite of what Tony wanted. But of course, him being both Tony Stark and Iron man, he always had long days. Almost always, was he up all night chasing villains. Surprisingly, Tony actually wanted to sleep.

It was a Thursday, so he mentally cursed that he still had to wake up early. Which, everyone knows will never happen. So, after a late night chase, Tony collapsed on his bed. The instant his head touched the pillow, his phone rang in alarm.

"Ugh!" He groaned as he picked his phone up.

He got up out of bed and instantly tripped on his own two feet. He grumbled as he lay there, not wanting to get up. No way could there be _another _chase that the police couldn't handle. He almost decided that he should pass out there, but his phone rang in alarm again.

"No!" He muttered to the floor. "I am tired of you."

He tossed his phone somewhere, but forced himself up off the floor. He stumbled tiredly out of his room and out of the house. At least the armory was close. That he was thankful for. He walked across the lawn, just now realizing that he should probably have put shoes on, especially since it recently rained, but at the moment, Tony couldn't care less. He was tired and he wanted to finish the chase and get back home and sleep. Nothing was going to stop him.

He took a wrong step and stomped on a stick that sended him rolling down the hill that led to the armory. He groaned as he got up, this time going faster so he wouldn't fall asleep, to the armory. He finally made it and went into the armory and armored up. He sloppily flew out of the armory, his own armor telling him that he should rest. Yeah, he tried.

He flew to the area the suspect was heading and landed in the middle of the semi busy road. Some car honked at him, but he waved them off as he waited for the suspect to arrive. Which soon enough, the suspect came speeding through the road and didn't even see him, sending him flying and the car and suspect into a pole.

He didn't even bother getting up. That is until police officer walked by him, saying something. He tiredly sat up. "What?"

"Are you alright? You're lying in the middle of the road." The officer said.

"I'm fine." Tony said getting up, with the help of the officer of course.

"Did he hit you that bad?" The officer asked. "Do you need medical attention?"

"No." Tony replied shaking his head. "Just tired is all. Been up since two days ago."

"Holy cow, you really didn't get any sleep did you?" The officer said.

Tony shook his head in both answer and attempt to stay awake. "You got this?"

The officer nodded and Tony tiredly instructed his armor to fly him home. Yawning, he fell asleep in his armor, before being waked up by his computer, telling him he'd arrived. Sore, he stretched his back and stumbled out of the armory and made the difficult hike up the hill to the house. Quietly, he made his way back to his room and collapsed on his bed.

Instantly he got some sleep.

…

Only a couple hours later, Rhodey burst through the doors with a cheeky grin. "Wake up Tony! Mom made French toast!"

Tony groaned, to tired and lazy to even try to throw his pillow at his best friend. He just buried his face deeper into his pillows, attempting to tell Rhodey to go away in the process, but in just came out as a garbled noise.

"Come on, man." Rhodey said. "French Toast. Aren't at least a little excited? And a school day too!"

Once again, Tony groaned at his friend. "No."

"No?" Rhodey asked in mock surprise. "Well, someone's crabby."

Sitting up, Tony made a face at Rhodey that was a mix of being half asleep, a glare, and annoyance. "Go away, I need more sleep."

"No, school starts in an hour. Time to get up."

"Ugh." Was Tony's only response as he dragged himself out of bed.

…

Pepper watched as her two best friends approached the entrance of the school, where she waited.

"Hey guys." She said smiling as she eyed the shadows under Tony's eyes. "What's up with Tony? Late night as Iron man?"

"Yep." Rhodey responded. "Up almost all night, for two nights."

"Hasn't he had worse than that?" Pepper asked, surprised that it was only 2 days this time.

"I guess, maybe it's because he's been constantly moving, fighting, chasing, working, that kind of stuff, instead of doing upgrades or inventing with his usual caffeine, or pizza's." Rhodey replied.

"Will you guys stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Tony asked, his voice sluggish.

"Sorry." They apologized.

Tony just nodded as they went in for class.

…

25 minutes left of class and his phone buzzed silently in Tony's pocket. Gritting his teeth, he made sure the teacher wasn't looking before sneaking a peek at the phone. He let out a rather loud groan, which caused the entire class to turn their attention to him.

"Sorry." He grumbled, putting his phone away quickly.

Half the class laughed, but the class was scolded for getting distracted. Tony rose his hand the instant attention was turned away from himself.

"Stark?" The teacher asked, already knowing the question about to be asked.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" He asked, and tiredly scratched his neck as the classroom groaned in unison, annoyed.

"Fine, if you promise to come back before the bell." The teacher said, but was too late as Tony was already out the door.

…

Armored up, he flew his way to the place at hand where help was needed. Then got extra annoyed to find that it was just a simple mugging and the man was quite fast, but of course, in the large crowds he wasn't able to be caught.

"Seriously?" He asked. Then as his computer started to answer his 'question', he spoke up again. "No, computer, just no."

He made his way to the fleeing mugger and grabbed him by the shirt. "I've had enough of you petty criminals who thinks they can get away with something like this." He said as he pulled the purse out of the man's grip.

"Please!" The man begged, confusing Tony. "Don't hurt me!"

"Why would I hurt you?"

"You were threatening me."

Tony rolled his eyes. "We're done here, you're going behind bars."

A woman ran over, with tears in her eyes as she smiled up at their hero. "Thank you, Iron Man!"

He nodded to the woman, tossing her purse back. Checking to make sure he had a strong grip on the mugger, he flew off towards the police station.

…

(Few days later)

The instant they got to their house, Tony went to his bed, not caring that Pepper came over to visit. He was completely exhausted. He spent the entire morning trying to beat Aim and their stupid upgrades, and managed to get to school, only 1 and a half hours late. Though, only to be sent to the office for sleeping in class.

Not to mention that he had to pull, yet another all-nighter the night before, because he armor needed repairs and upgrades. He really didn't want to wait any longer. Better sooner than later.

"Where's Tony?" Roberta asked when she got home from work.

"Sleeping." Rhodey replied.

"Already, he hardly ever sleeps." Roberta said getting some water.

Pepper had gone off to see if Tony had actually woken up yet, because after all he's been asleep for hours, and she was pretty sure he could probably sleep through to the next morning, which worried her. Though, she was happy that at least he was getting a little bit of sleep.

Thought when she walked in, she accidentally tripped, hitting the table with her hand, causing too much noise, so Tony woke up with a start. He looked to Pepper and the position she was in before realizing what happened.

"You okay?"

"You're the one to be asking!" She said standing up. "Are _you _okay?"

"I'm fine, just tired." Tony said, lying back down.

She was about to speak, but Tony's phone rang in alarm. In an instant, Tony shoved his phone violently under his mattress, so he didn't have to hear it anymore. He needed his peace. Pepper pulled it out after he stopped mumbling.

"It's just a car chase, nothing bad." She said, before looking back down. "Never mind, it's an armed car chase involving the Maggia."

"Ugh!" Tony said, upset that it wasn't so easy to ignore. He was expected to show up, but he was too tired to do so.

"Tony." Pepper said putting a calming hand on his shoulder as he tried to stand up. "I can do this."

Tony's tired eyes widened. "What?"

"Let me use the armor. Let me deal with this. I can do this." She said.

"No, you don't even know how to fly the armor. You'll never even get out of the armory."

Pepper tried to hide her hurt expression of the lack of trust she had from her friend. "Please? You need the rest, I could use some exercise and if you were ever to make _me _an armor, it would be perfect practice, right?"

"Pep, I don't want you to get hurt. Maybe if it didn't involve so much flying. Or maybe if you had more training." Tony said yawning as he tried to get up again. "Pepper, I'm fine." He said as she pushed him back down.

"No, you're not." Pepper said. "If you go out there, and fall asleep, you could get hurt. And if you don't get rest, this will only get worse and I'll have to take in for you for more time. Meaning, I'm at risk much more than usual."

"Pep…" Tony said, starting to fall for her trick. "…fine, but just this once. Okay? Just this _once_!"

Pepper smiled. "Okay, I'll have Rhodey help me."

…

Rhodey and Pepper walked in, Pepper with a huge grin, and Rhodey with that of a tired face that could almost match Tony's own. Tony looked at Pepper worried to find any injuries.

"How'd it go?" He asked.

"Great!" Pepper said at the same time Rhodey said, "Horrible."

"I got the hang of it after a minute!" Pepper said defensively.

"Yeah, by then you had already crashed into 4 buildings." Rhodey pointed out.

Pepper just pouted. "I got the bad guys…" She mumbled, less unenthusiastically.

"Good job, Pep!" Tony said, relieved that she was okay. Pepper nodded her head as her cheeks went read. "Did you get hurt?"

"Nope, hardly even a scratch." She said.

She smiled at Tony and winked playfully as Tony fell back asleep.

…

The next couple weeks seemed as if they were making up for the week without sleep for Tony. Pepper and Rhodey made sure Tony came out of the lab enough to get a full nights rest, and all the meals he needed. Pepper learned how to use the iron man armor much better, and was cruising around town on her free time, whenever Tony was asleep.

"This is fun!" She said, smiling as she twirled in a circle in the sky, scaring the heck out of some birds.

"I know," Tony said agreeing.

"MAKE ME AN ARMOR!" She demanded. "I need an armor. NOW!"

"Calm down Pepper, there's still lots of things I'd need to do, then you'd have to do, then…it just gets exhausting, how about another time." Tony supplied.

She pouted. "Okay, fine."

"Thanks, Pep." Tony said giving her a quick hug.

Surprised, pepper looked up. "For what?"

"For being there, for helping, for taking control of the situation." Tony replied.

"You're welcome." Pepper said.

"Oh and one more thing." Tony said turning back to face his redheaded friend. With a quick movement, he kissed Pepper full on the lips, before quickly backing away. "I love you."

For a moment, she was silent, but then she smiled. "I love you to. And Tony?"

"What?"

"I'll always have your back." She said kissing him. "No matter what."

**So, a little cute Pepperony story. How was it? You guys like it? Other than my sleepiness, this was also inspired by the Iron Man 3 trailer. The one where Peppers is tin the armor...and the end part where they say they got each other. ^,^ **

**Fun Fact:_ I can draw people or anime pretty good, but when it comes to animals or landscapers, i suck! _**

**Tonmorrow i shall work on updating Victims vs Suspects. Maybe... I don't know. Well, bye! :]**


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